There’s a rumored iPhone 5C: Does the C stand for ‘cheap’?

If summer has neared its peak and fall approaches, that can only mean one thing: A new iPhone is coming. And that means, of course, that the Apple rumor machine is churning at full spin.

A new version of the iPhone is expected to roll out in September or October, but this year there’s a twist. The long-rumored, lower-cost iPhone may finally happen this year. And thanks to a report on the alleged mistreatment of workers at one of Apple’s Chinese suppliers, the rumor appears to be confirmed.

The report by China Labor Watch, released Monday [PDF], accuses supplier Pegatron of withholding pay from workers, as well as refusing to give them ID cards that would let them work for another company. There are also allegations of environmental and safety violations in Pegatron’s factories.

The item about the plastic iPhone comes midway through the reports, in a statement by a worker who says he is assembling devices not yet on the market:

The task on my assembly line is to assemble back covers. The assembling of other parts of the cell phone, including the final assembly into a finished product, is assigned to different production facilities, each facility partitioned off by heavy curtains so that workers in different departments are isolated from one other. Today’s work is to paste protective film on the iPhone’s plastic back cover to prevent it from being scratched on assembly lines. This iPhone model with a plastic cover will soon be released on the market by Apple. The task is pretty easy, and I was able to work
independently after a five-minute instruction from a veteran employee. It took around a minute to paste protective film on one rear cover. The new cell phone has not yet been put into mass production, so quantity is not as important. This makes our job more slow paced than in departments that have begun mass production schedules.

Supposedly, this iPhone 5C will launch at the same time as the successor to the current iPhone 5, which is presumed to be called the iPhone 5S. The key new feature in the 5S apparently will be a fingerprint sensor, another capability long-rumored to be coming to Apple’s smartphone.

The source for this is references found in the latest beta of iOS 7, the next release of Apple’s mobile operating system. Hamza Sood of London spotted it, and 9to5Mac has details:

Sood tells us that the above strings are what an iPhone with VoiceOver on would read to a user. According to a source familiar with the development of the new iPhone, the user-interface for the fingerprint scanning system has been complete. This person also says that the technology is focused around unlocking the phone, so it is unclear if it is built for a payment system (as rumored) in the next iPhone. We previously reported that Apple’s iWatch will include some biometric related hardware/software features.

Back to the iPhone 5C. As manyhave already pointed out, Apple likely will say the “C” stands for color, but the cynical among us are apt to believe it stands for “cheap”. And given that Apple reportedly sees the lower-cost phone as a way to boost profit margins and make inroads in developing markets, that’s probably OK with the company. Subtext is everything.

It would also track Apple’s development of the iPod, which started out as a single, expensive device, but now is an entire family, some of which are sold at very low price points. So far, Apple has played this game using older iPhone models as its low-priced options, but it may be time to move on from that strategy.

What do you think? Does an inexpensive, colorful iPhone made of plastic appeal to you? Let us know in the comments.